A SDAIE strategy where the name of a famous person, living or deceased, is placed on the back of each student. Without looking, students try to guess who the person is by asking questions that require only yes/no answers.
In the Classroom
Best done as a small group assignment with the teacher, Famous Person Mystery allows students to use backward thinking to review for any lesson which includes attributing information to one individual. Where as most of the time students would be told to share out information on, for example, George Washington. This exercise allows for a different approach. The students only know those individuals from the lesson and have to use a series of yes/no questions to figure out the famous person they have written on their back. Each students knows that others are also going to have names on their backs, but only the teacher knows who each student represents. The winner is the student to first figure out who they represent.
Variations
While this strategy is specifically designed to help EL students during history or social studies, Famous Person Mystery can be modified for other subject areas. For instance, It can be used in literature classes to identify authors or characters, as well as in science classes when students learn about the discoveries of certain individuals.
Famous Person Mystery
by Mark CornejoDescription
A SDAIE strategy where the name of a famous person, living or deceased, is placed on the back of each student. Without looking, students try to guess who the person is by asking questions that require only yes/no answers.In the Classroom
Best done as a small group assignment with the teacher, Famous Person Mystery allows students to use backward thinking to review for any lesson which includes attributing information to one individual. Where as most of the time students would be told to share out information on, for example, George Washington. This exercise allows for a different approach. The students only know those individuals from the lesson and have to use a series of yes/no questions to figure out the famous person they have written on their back. Each students knows that others are also going to have names on their backs, but only the teacher knows who each student represents. The winner is the student to first figure out who they represent.Variations
While this strategy is specifically designed to help EL students during history or social studies, Famous Person Mystery can be modified for other subject areas. For instance, It can be used in literature classes to identify authors or characters, as well as in science classes when students learn about the discoveries of certain individuals.Demonstration